A sporting chance for youngsters on trust courses

AFTER taking note of their GCSE results, young people are being offered the chance to sign up for a mix of sporting and academic education based at Burton Albion. The club's community trust is offering Level 1 and Level 2 Sport courses starting in September with around a dozen places available on each programme.

The Level 1 in Sport course is for 16-24 year olds and will also include an employability and personal development module.

Community education officer Paul Whitworth said: "It's almost two courses in one and there's opportunity to do functional skills if the learners need to brush up on English, maths and IT."

For the Level 1 course there are no entry requirements. The course will start towards the end of September and will take 25 weeks with additional work experience opportunities.

The BTEC Level 2 in Sport starts on September 8, with an induction week preceding it. It will be a year-long course with a potential to progress to Level 3.

Mr Whitworth said: "This is a futsal scholarship as well. There is an opportunity to play futsal in a league if you wish. But the education side is always going to be the most important thing."

The entry requirements are two GCSEs with grades between A and D. If the applicants don't have English and/or maths there are opportunities to do functional skills as well.

For both courses, the applicants need to have an interest in sport, although not necessarily football. Mr Whitworth said: "Yes we are a football club but we have a lot more strings to our bow."